Hurricane Spam
Hurricane Spam (also known as Hurricane Katrina 2.0, Hurricane Ivan-Katrina, and the The Crazy Storm) was a catastrophic category 5 hurricane that affected a wide swath of the Caribbean and the Southeastern United States Hurricane Spam was the strongest, deadliest, and costliest Atlantic hurricane on record, following a very erratic track that resulted in three landfalls in Louisiana alone. The eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Spam formed from an African Easterly Wave that traveled across the Main Development Region with little development, but upon entering the Caribbean, rapidly intensified to the strongest storm on record; beating the previous record set by Hurricane Patricia in 2015 for highest maximum sustained wind speed, and Typhoon Tip's record for lowest minimum pressure. Hurricane Spam was also notable for its very large size, nearly spanning the entire Gulf of Mexico. Most of southern Louisiana was entirely devastated, with most areas being deemed uninhabitable. Some towns and cities, including Baton Rouge and New Orleans, were never rebuilt. After the storm, the Louisiana state government announced that the new capitol of Louisiana would be Shreveport, replacing the former capitol Baton Rouge. Meteorological History A small, fledgling tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa about a week prior to initial formation. It went largely unnoticed due to hostile conditions inhibiting any significant development. Despite that, the wave gradually consolidated as it moved across the main development region at about approximately 10 mph (16 km/h). Global models began trending torwards the formation of the wave, and the National Hurricane Center officially designated it as Invest 99L, meaning that it was an area of investigation. Several aircraft reconnaissance aircrafts investigated the system as it approached the Lesser Antilles, but failed in finding a closed circulation. At 15:00 UTC on September 13, a plane investigating the system found that it had obtained tropical storm-force winds, but still lacked a well defined circulation. However, another aircraft 12 hours later found maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) with a pressure of 1000 mbars, as well as a slightly disheveled, but closed, circulation. It was assigned the name Spam by the National Hurricane Center. Tropical Storm Spam quickly organized, with an eye feature developing only 12 hours after formation. Intense feeder and outflow bands developed, allowing the storm to intensify at a faster rate. Heavy thunderstorms affected the southern islands in the Lesser Antilles chain, primarily St. Lucia and Martinique, which also experienced tropical storm winds. The storm passed between the aforementioned islands without making a landfall while heading for the Carribean. 3 fatalities were reported when the roof of a home collapsed on the island nation of St. Vincent & The Grenadines. Emergency services were entirely shut down on the island of Dominica, later determined to be a communications error between the government and personal. Extensive flooding was reported on most of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, apart from the extreme southern locations, which experienced some cloudy skies and rough surf. Quickly strengthening, Spam intensified to a category 1 hurricane only 24 hours after initial formation. Having already been a large tropical wave upon formation, Spam began to expand in size further as the storm became a hurricane, with cloud cover from the storm spanning from the northern countries of South America, including Venezuela and Columbia. Preparations Islands in the Lesser Antilles had little time to prepare due to the fast forming nature of the storm. The government of St. Lucia distributed sand bags for free on street corners, especially in coastal areas. Supermarkets quickly became sold out of essential necessities, such as food, clean water, and medical supplies. After the storm passed, damage inspections discovered that loss was not as bad as previously feared. Similar occurred on neighboring islands. When Hurricane Spam began to rapidly intensify, areas in the projected cone started extensive preparations. Impact Aftermath and Response After the storm dissipated on October 20, President Donald Trump issued a statement saying "this is the worst disaster for human kind." A spokesperson at the meeting claimed that it was due to climate change. Donald Trump fired him from his administration on the spot. Naming controversy After the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) replaced Sean with Spam at the 39th session of the RA IV hurricane committee, the Floyd Meteorological Center and the Nkechinyer Weather Center issued statements criticizing the action, and demanded that the name be removed. The World Meteorological Organization responded to the matter, claiming that the change had enough support at the meeting to be approved. The FMC removed Spam and replaced it with Strawberry, while the NKWC replaced Spam with Sean, the former name used for one tropical cyclone in 2011. The naming caused extensive confusion, due to various news outlets using different names. Category:Future storms Category:Money Hurricane Category:Cyclones Category:2017 Atlantic Hurricane season